Ink decorates Iron
by readwithcats
Summary: All he had wanted to do was join Phantom Lord, instead, he ended up somewhere called Fairy Tail. Why? Gajeel still wasn't sure, but knew it probably had something to do with the blue haired girl that was following him… Gajevy.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back and with another Gajevy story! Yay! It's basically what if Gajeel had** **met** **Levy** ** **after** **Metalicana had disappeared but** before they both joined a guild.  
**

 **Sorry in advance for any mistakes. Hope you enjoy this story, if you do leave a review, they make my day!**

 _Ink decorates Iron_

It was hot. And he was wearing black, pure black. Why hadn't he chosen the white baggy T-shirt before leaving? Because like Metalicana had said so many times before, he was an idiot.

"Damn it! Why are you always right?!" He shouted before realizing that he was in the middle of a city not in the woods where he would be if his dad was here, and people liked to stare. Especially if you look like you just went through hell and back. Which he did.

His jeans were practically just loose threads at the end because they had been too long before so they had been dragged all over a forest floor. Plus, there were random holes in them from all the times he had fallen during his training to become an Iron Dragonslayer. His T-shirt was in even worse condition and was absorbing all the heat of the blazing sun making him sweat more water than he had drank this morning.

Finally, the people stopped staring at him like he was a freak show allowing him to let out a sigh of relief. But it was still hot and he was sure that he was going to be dehydrated soon. He wished he had stayed in the forest where even if it was hot you could hide in the shade of the looming trees. However, Metalicana had left him and he now had to prove to his father that he should have left him.

Of course, his plan might have worked better if he had the money to buy the things he needed, if he knew how the world worked, or perhaps the biggest 'if' for Gajeel, how to join a guild. He had heard about one named 'Phantom Lord' and had gotten the sense that they were pretty tough but like he had said, he didn't know how to join a guild. In fact, Metalicana might have just been better off putting him with the wolves. Oh wait, Gajeel would've actually been able to beat the crap out of them unlike with this situation.

He had been lying earlier when he had said it was hot, it was blistering hot, so hot he stopped and went into some shop that was a dozen times cooler than the outside.

Upon closer inspection, the shop he had stepped into seemed to be a bookstore and it was filled to the brim with books but to his surprise he couldn't see any dust on the books. At least he wouldn't sneeze now if he bumped into something.

"Hello, do you need anything?" A high pitched voice asked making him jump as he had been so stuck within his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the petite girl walk up to him.

The girl had on an indigo summer dress that had purple and yellow flowers. The yellow popped out against the blue making his eyes hurt. He moved on to her face, she had on red rimmed glasses that had slid to the bottom of her nose giving off the impression that she was looking down upon him. It made him feel a lot smaller until he realized that he was at least one head taller than her. She was sort of like a shrimp. Her slightly wavy blue hair looked so soft that he to resist to touch it.

"Um, no." He replied caught off guard. After all, he had only talked to his dad so he wasn't sure what to say, which was actually quite ironic. He could talk to a full grown dragon yet not a small harmless girl… He had to fix that.

She nodded, "Well if you do, I'll be right there reading." She pointed to a leather chair in the back that he hadn't seen because it was surrounded by towers built out of books.

"Oh! Um, I actually just came to get away from the heat…" He mumbled, not wanting to seem rude as he knew he wasn't going to buy anything, he didn't have the money.

She laughed and he wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not, but the whole room seemed to light up when she did… He was most definitely hallucinating.

"That's what I thought," At his confusion, she explained, "you didn't seem like the type to read in their spare time. Anyway, it's fine, you can just scan the shelves and see if you find anything that catches your attention."

Oh… Wait! That was rude! But then again it was true, he barely read, so he let it go and decided to follow her advice. Only to feel like he was being watched but when he turned around, there was no one except for the girl. That was strange, a girl her age shouldn't have been left alone to take care of a shop. Maybe her parents had abandoned her like Metalicana had with him, if so, Gajeel felt bad for her.

He went back to looking at the books and saw a series that caught his eye, _Fablehaven_. He reached for what seemed to be the first one but before he could the girl said something, "Oh! That series is really good also that's the second one in the _Fablehaven_ series! The first one is the second one's place. Sorry, a customer picked it up but then put it back in the wrong order."

"If you knew about it why didn't you put it in the correct order?" He asked, confused, but then wondered if he was being rude.

When he asked that, the girl's face turned bright red and she put her hands in front of face before she started waving them around making him even more confused and self-conscious about what he had said.

"I-I'm s-sorry," She rushed to explain, "I was reading a really good book that day and I really didn't want to stop reading it because I was about to find out if Voldemort was going to die or not. And Harry came back to life, and it was just so good. Then I forgot after I finished the book because of the seventeen years later part at the end and I started crying because the series was finally over. After that my dad gave me another book to cheer me up _, Twice upon a time_ …" She rambled on making Gajeel snore slightly. In his defense, her voice was lulling him to sleep so it wasn't his fault.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just get like that when I'm nervous." She apologized looking at the book she was nervously fingering but at the lack of response she looked up to find Gajeel dozing off with his head leaning on a book shelf, drooling slightly. Then she realized that he was _drooling_ on _books_! "Mister! Don't drool on the books! That's our antiquity section! You're going to ruin the books!"

He woke up with a jolt and then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, nope he wasn't. The shrimp was shouting at him, hands on hips, and scowling as though he had just committed the gravest sin of all. When he processed what she was shouting about, he couldn't help himself, he laughed and laughed and laughed until he was gasping for breath.

She looked at him quizzically, shouting forgotten, "Are you laughing? Yeah, I think you are." She stated disbelievingly.

"Were you just shouting at me because I was about to drool on your precious books? Gihi." He matched her disbelieving tone though wasn't able to stop the laugh at the end. Then he frowned as he felt overcome by exhaustion, the non-stop walking and heat must finally be catching up with him.

"So what if I was? Those books are rare!" She defended herself and was going to say more but then he started swaying on his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just tired, shrimp." He muttered before he passed out making her rush forward in concern for a child who was just a little older than her, not that she could tell though, he was taller than he should have been.

But then what he had called her registered inside her brain, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!"

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	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, I'm back with an update and I hope you enjoy! Also this story should be pretty short like 5 chapters at most 10, though I'm not sure yet.**

 **Keep in mind that they are younger, so if they're acting a little different it's because of that.**

 **Thank you to Carly (guest) and Kaylacutiepop who reviewed. I really appreciate that you took time to review and tell me what you thought.**

 _Chapter 2_

Levy paced nervously around the small bed where the boy was sleeping with a slight snore. She hoped he was okay. Her cry had brought her parents rushing from upstairs worried that she had been attacked but when they had seen the spiky haired boy laying on the floor with her hovering over him, her dad went to call the doctor while her mom had gotten a glass of water and had tried to get him to drink. He swallowed two mouthfuls before collapsing again. He hadn't woken up since.

 _Ding._

She looked up startled and stole a glance the sleeping boy before rushing downstairs to see to their customer. The bluenette had completely forgotten that today she was in charge of them because what had happened earlier that afternoon.

Pausing right in front of the door that separated the bookstore from their house she turned slightly to look at her reflection in the mirror next to the entrance. She winced and then smoothed out her hair to make it looked a bit more tamed than it actually was.

She stepped in with a smile brightening her face while her eyes searched for their customer.

 _He must be a noble_ , she thought as she took in his appearance. He had on a fedora that hid his dark brown hair except for a few escaping hairs that her keen eyes caught. His foot was tapping gently against the floor causing her to think that he was rather impatient. Though what really caused her to think that he was a noble was the fact that he was wearing a suit and it was common knowledge that men or women who wore fancy clothes were people who were sitting in money.

"Hello, what can I help you with?" She asked strolling up to him.

He turned around and frowned, "I ringed for the owner not a mere child."

"I am the child of the owners and I know where all the books are in this store." She stated forcing herself to keep her smile in place.

He grunted but seemed to accept that she was going to be the one helping him. "I'm here to pick up a book for Mr. Heartfilia."

At that her smile was no longer forced, her parents' bookstore was famous and whenever a noblemen would come to pick up a book, she felt pride envelope her chest.

"Yes, of course." She walked around him to reach the small desk where she had placed the book upon hearing the request. The bluenette grabbed it, scribbled something over a list that was by it before handing it to the man who had yet to introduce himself. "It will be 15000 jewels."

He gave her the money without complaint and walked out with the book in hand.

She breathed a sigh of relief and glanced towards the door wondering if she would be able to escape for a couple minutes to see if the boy was awake. But her hopes were crushed when she heard the front door creak.

She plastered a smile on her face once more but soon dropped it once she recognized who it was, the doctor. She was carrying her bag but that wasn't what everyone used to identify her. What they used was the scary scowl she sent everyone who looked in her direction.

Porlyisca while many didn't like her, none hated her because she had saved at least one family member of each family so they each owed her something. She always wore a pink cloak that wrapped around her body and had talons at the top concealing the back of her neck. Her hair was the same shade of pink as her cloak and it was usually in a tight bun.

"Good afternoon, Porlyisca!" She shouted. "Are you here to see the boy?"

"Why else would I be here, child?"

"To see me?" She joked and was rewarded with a small smile that flickered across the woman's face before disappearing once more.

Levy, feeling proud of herself, brought Porlyisca upstairs where the boy was. She immediately started working her magic and soon enough she had an answer.

"Call your parents."

Levy ran across the hall to her parent's bedroom and yanked the door open, "She knows what's wrong with him!" She kept shifting around waiting for her parents to stop doing the bills, get up, and follow her to where he was.

"We're coming."

Finally, they were all packed into the small room with Porlyisca scowling even more at the company.

"He is fine and just needs some rest, and when he wakes up, water." She declared as if daring them to object and seemed to relax a bit when they didn't. "Well, I will take my leave." She left the room with a swish from her cloak.

Levy sighed, "I wish she would let us pay her."

Her mom shook her head in agreement while her father said, "We should be grateful. While our bookstore is popular we don't have enough to go around paying everyone so we should be grateful that she doesn't accept anything."

The bluenette opened her mouth to say something when the boy moved, groaning as he did so. She leaped towards him ready to bombard him with questions but was restrained by her mom who held her hand.

Levy glanced back at her mom who gave her a firm stare. She sighed in defeat and her mother let go, knowing that she wouldn't try anything.

This silent exchange was interrupted by the unnamed boy who was now awake and wondering where he was.

"Where am I?" He muttered but the shouted, "Oi, shrimp! Where am I?"

Levy's eye twitched, "My name is not shrimp!"

"Then what is your name?"

"Levy McGarden! What about you?"

"Gajeel Redfox! Now are ya going to answer my question, shrimp?!"

"It's Levy McGarden for the fifth time! And you're above the bookstore."

"Shrimp suites you better, cause you're so short! And can I have some water?"

"I am not short!" She declared stomping her feet as she went to get the water pitcher.

He raised an eyebrow at that and her mother answered seeing his expression, "she is rather sensitive about her height."

He nodded before asking, "Who are you?"

"Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves. We are her parents. You can call me Laura if you'd like." She offered pointing towards herself.

He nodded again before trying to get up only to get pushed back down by Levy who had returned.

"You stay still until your fully recovered, Gajeel Redfox!" She said before giving him a glass of water.

Laura laughed and Levy seemed to realize what she had said and blushed. Gajeel felt bad for her and changed the subject. "Is there Iron I can eat here?"

They looked at him confused, "Iron?"

"Yeah, it will help me get some energy back." He stated.

"Nope, we don't have any but I can make some!" Levy squealed excited to try out her magic again.

" _Iron!_ " She shouted pointing at him and then there was a 'pop'. To his surprise, there was the word 'iron' made out of iron sitting on top of him. It was the size of his hand too.

Her parents looked proudly at their daughter who swelled with triumph at her accomplishment.

He took the iron and sniffed it before taking a bite causing Levy to gasp. Gajeel looked at the iron before taking another bite, it was nice and rich. Metalicana would have approved.

"Thanks." He looked up now that he had finished to find the Shrimp with a notebook and ready to ask questions and her mom wasn't stopped her as she was curious as well.

"You eat iron. Why?"

Gajeel decided to answer a couple questions, they had been nice enough to take care of him. "Cause I'm an Iron Dragonslayer so I eat iron."

She wrote down his answer before asking something else, "You say Dragonslayer but who taught you if there are no drgons?"

"No dragons my butt. I was taught by one, Metalicana." He scoffed.

"I want to meet a dragon one day that way I can see if the legends are right."

"I would show you Metalicana but he vanished a couple days ago." He said frowning.

"Oh." She seemed to detect his reluctance to talk about it and dropped the subject. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I was going to join a guild."

"Really? Which one?"

"Phantom Lorde. I heard they had strong fighters there."

Levy frowned, "Why not Fairy Tail? They are one of the strongest guilds in all of Fiore."

"Fairy Tail? I've never heard of them."

"Oh well, you should join them because I'm going to join that guild when I'm older."

"Oh, that reminds. How _do_ you join a guild?"

"I'm not sure… I've heard that you just ask and they will let you in, but I think it depends on which guild."

* * *

Days passed and Gajeel found himself growing attached to Levy. Her feathers got ruffled easily but she was easily the most caring person he had ever met. That was why he was considering letting her join him on his search to join a guild, because he didn't think he could stand it if she got injured and he wasn't there to protect her.

"Gajeel!" She was waving a hand in front of his face trying to get his attention.

"Eh. What?"

"I asked when you were going to leave. Not at that I want you to go away, I mean I don't care but if you want to say longer you can. And if you want to leave you can now that you're fully recovered…" She trailed off no longer sure of herself.

"Soon." Gajeel let that sink in before getting up and saying, "I'm going to try and join Phantom Lord… Do you want to come with me?"

She looked at him, startled and her orbs shined with so many emotions, "Do you want me to?"

"I don't really care but you seem to know stuff so you'd be the brains and I would be the muscle." He said nonchalantly as if he didn't care[PM1] but his eyes betrayed him. He wanted her to come, he didn't want to go alone in a world he didn't know anything about.

"I…"

* * *

That very evening, they left the bookstore Levy had known her whole life with only a note to prove where they were going.

 _Dear Mom and Dad,_

 _Gajeel asked me to join him on his search and I was already planning on going just later but I decided I would go that way I wouldn't be alone. Don't worry about us, we will send you a letter later._

 _Love,_

 _Levy and Gajeel_

Little did they know that they had begun a journey that would test the limits of their friendship.

 **Such a cheesy ending…**

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	3. Chapter 3

**And I'm back with another update! Sorry for the wait, I'd say usually it won't take me so long but I'm not sure, school is about to start for me. Also 16 followers with just 2 chapters! You people are awesome~!**

 **Thank you to Mskumiko24 for reviewing!**

 **Chapter 3**

" _Fire,_ " Levy shouted raising her arms to make the energy residing in her flow better. Once the spell was cast she wandered over to the nearest tree to catch her breath.

A yowl was soon heard and so was Gajeel's triumphant shout.

"Midget! I got it!"

"My name is _not_ Midget! And without me you couldn't have caught it." Levy pouted while getting back to her feet.

"Yer short, ain't yeah?" Gajeel said ignoring her second statement, while gesturing to her body.

"No, I am not! Also it's 'you are' or 'you're' not 'yer'. If you're going to join a guild a guild, make it sound as though you're educated." She scolded him.

He started to walk back the way they had come through into the forest. "I got you for that, don't I?"

The bluenette stood her ground. "But you might not always have me."

Gajeel turned back and stared at her before stating, "Well then I'll have to glue you to me. Gihi!"

Levy sighed and gave up knowing that her companion wouldn't see reason. She didn't dwell on him (he made her head hurt) and instead thought about the reward. Her face immediately brightened. "Let's go get the reward!"

She started running towards the exit of the forest only to be stopped. "Huh? What are you doing Gajeel?"

"Why did you use your magic when it was my part?"

Levy stared at him confused before realizing what he meant, "Oh! I used because you had an opening and it was about to charge."

When they had teamed up two weeks ago, they had devised a plan. The team would only accept eliminating small monsters because Levy was still learning how to use her magic, which they found out was called solid-script, and Gajeel didn't want her to get hurt. To first catch the monster, Levy would trap him with a combination of runes that she had read in a library and her solid-script, then to eliminate it, Gajeel would beat its ass.

But this time Levy had interfered when it was Gajeel's turn and had exhausted herself more than usual.

"As if I would allow it to hurt me."

"Well, I was just trying to protect you because that's what friends do!"

His eye's widened, she thought of him as a friend! Gajeel smirked, maybe interacting with humans wouldn't be as hard as he thought.

* * *

"Thank you so much!" Levy shouted as she put on her newly acquired gale-force reading glasses.

The mayor shook his head slightly, smiling at her joy, "No, thank you for defeating the monsters that were terrorizing our town."

"It was no problem," Levy said while still grinning.

"Do you belong to a guild?"

"Not yet, though we are searching for a guild called Phantom Lord."

"Ah, a strong guild. Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah, though we sort of got lost…" Levy said sheepishly scratching her blue hair.

The mayor rubbed the bottom of his chin, "I can't remember what the town is called but I know it's near Magnolia which is a two day walk from here."

"Thank you again, mister!" Levy said following Gajeel as he walked out of the Mayor's office.

Once they were outside, Levy turned to Gajeel, "why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugged, he wasn't too sure himself. Levy let it go and quickly got out a book to test out her new reading glasses. They worked even better than she thought! She let a squeal escape her, "Yes!"

Gajeel looked at her, she was dancing in a circle clutching the book to her chest with the energy only a child could have. Gajeel's lips twitched as he continued watching her before nodding his head in a determined way, he would protect her if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

The two days passed quickly as they encountered little trouble. They were finally at Magnolia and Gajeel was about to ask where Phantom Lord was to a store owner when he heard a shout.

"You stupid ice princess!"

"Take that back flamebrain!"

"Flamebrain?! That's so lame!"

"Well so is ice princess!"

"Guys! Erza is coming!" This one was a feminine voice.

"Er-"

"-za!"

The black haired boy smirked, whoever this Erza was, she/he must be strong, he could hear the fear in the way they had said her name. In fact, he wanted to see who this Erza was. Phantom Lord could wait.

He walked out of the store leaving the owner wondering what he had wanted to know.

Is enhanced hearing heard another voice join the others, "Natsu, Gray, were you fighting again? Because I'm almost certain I heard you guys screaming."

"Us? Fighting?! Erza, we're best buds, right Natsu?"

"Yeah, the best of best buds!"

"Are they lying, Lisanna?"

"No and I have been here the whole time."

"Okay, I believe you."

There was a sigh of relief as a set of footsteps got fainter.

"Thanks Lisanna!"

"Your welcome, Natsu!"

Gajeel sighed, he had come too late, Erza had already left. Oh well, once he had joined Phantom Lord he would come back and challenge Erza to fight him.

"Gajeel!" He turned in surprise finding Levy staring at him in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, short stuff."

"The library is right there," she pointed to the building right across the street. "So what are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Gajeel didn't want to tell her he had come to fight someone. She wouldn't like it. So what would be a good excuse? He wanted to eat, no she wouldn't buy that. He had to go to the restroom! Yeah, that should do the trick. "I had to go to the restroom."

"So what are you doing in an alley?"

The boy glanced around and saw that he indeed in a alley that was littered with crates and scrapes of paper. "…I don't know."

Levy sighed, "You're hopeless."

 **Hey, so do you lovely readers have any request that you want to happen to them?**

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